In memoriam

In memoriam

2015

Damir Frkovic, R.I.P.
Damir Frkovic was a commercial imaging artist, photographer and visual designer. He was a VES member for more than a decade, and worked as a modeling and lighting artist on several features for Pixar Animation Studios, including TOY STORY, A BUG’S LIFE, TOY STORY 2, MONSTERS INC. and FINDING NEMO.
Born in Croatia, raised and schooled in Canada, he traveled and worked all over the world on many creative projects for many clients and companies, including Pixar and Apple Inc.
He passed away suddenly in March of this year, and is survived by his partner of 13 years, Shawnae Lorenz. Damir will be missed within the visual effects community.
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(Photo courtesy of Ned Gorman)
The visual effects community and entertainment industry as a whole has lost a true friend, dedicated colleague and beautiful gentleman.
Last week, VFX Artist and Cameraman, Randolph W. (Randy) Jonsson, passed away due to cancer at the age of 58.
With a multitude of credits to his name, Randy worked for years at Industrial Light & Magic first as a VFX Camera Assistant on such iconic films as STAR WARS, STAR TREK and BACK TO THE FUTURE, then as a Match Move Artist on such CGI blockbusters as JURASSIC PARK: THE LOST WORLD, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, and HARRY POTTER.
Despite his numerous contributions on such larger-than-life productions, what made Randy so... read more

(from CG Society)
Francis L. Camacho worked as the Matchmove Supervisor for Prime Focus World in Mumbai, India where he was reponsible for the feature film matchmove team, quality control and matchmove training for the studio's artists. previously he has worked for studios such as Uncharted Territory , Scanline LA, Digital Domain, Rhythm and Hues, Sony Imageworks, and Hammerhead Productions. He has worked on feature films including Prometheus, 2012, Iron Man3, The Amazing Spiderman, Tron:Legacy, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and both Journey3 movies.
Francis was highly experienced in camera tracking and matchmoving, roto-animation, and stereoscopic 3D tracking. He also worked as a... read more

2014

Lucinda Strub, R.I.P.
Lucinda Strub worked in practical special special effects for 30 years, was a long time VES member and winner of the Technical Achievement award at the 59th Academy Awards which she shared with her husband Matt Sweeney. She did special effects for THE GOONIES, THE LOST BOYS, the LETHAL WEAPON franchise, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, APOLLO 13, GALAXY QUEST, the FAST & FURIOUS franchise and many other projects.
Together, they founded Matt Sweeney Special Effects, Inc. in 1984 in Van Nuys, California to design and develop a specialized Automatic Capsule Gun that shoots a capsule that simulates a bullet hit for motion picture filming. Their finished product garnered the... read more

2013

Visual effects master Ray Harryhausen, whose stop-motion wizardry graced such films as JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS and CLASH OF THE TITANS, has died aged 92. The American animator made his models by hand and painstakingly shot them frame by frame to create some of the best-known battle sequences in cinema. His death was confirmed to the BBC by a representative of the family. "Harryhausen's genius was in being able to bring his models alive," said an official statement from his foundation. "Whether they were prehistoric dinosaurs or mythological creatures, in Ray's hands they were no longer puppets but became instead characters in their own right." Born in Los Angeles in June 1920, Raymond... read more

Photo from Getty Images & text by Carolyn Giardina for The Hollywood Reporter
Special effects inventor and engineer Petro Vlahos, whose industry contributions made possible such iconic film moments as Julie Andrews dancing with penguins in the 1964 classic MARY POPPINS, died Sunday. He was 96.
A member of the Academy’s original Motion Picture Research Council, Vlahos was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences many times, starting with a Scientific and Technical Award in 1960 for a camera flicker indicating device. He earned an Oscar statuette in 1964 for color traveling matte composite cinematography and another in 1994 for the Ultimatte electronic blue-screen... read more

Tim Hey was a true Man of Film. A lifelong lover of the medium, he began his long road as a projectionist at Odeon Cinemas, Ipswich in his native England. Displaying other's work wasn't enough to satisfy that love. Inspired by some of his favourite films and film makers, most notably Superman and Steven Spielberg, Tim wanted to be involved in the making. He took a risk, left a good job and enrolled at The Finishing School in London. With a year of training under his belt Tim began working as a Digital Paint Artist at Framestore-CFC on films such as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and the James Bond film, Die Another Day. Tim proved to be an inspiration to his brother Jeremy, who... read more

2012

Compiled from various sources
Long time VES member and Visual Effects Producer Eileen Moran died Monday in New Zealand after battling cancer. Over her brilliant career she won three VES Awards and an Oscar. Her films included FIGHT CLUB, THE LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy, KING KONG, AVATAR, THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN, RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, PROMETHEUS and THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY among many others.
She was too ill last week to attend the New Zealand world premiere of THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, one of the last movies she worked on.
Director Peter Jackson said, “She was a lovely, decent person who had great respect for all the artists she worked with.”
“Eileen was an... read more

The visual effects community lost a great matte painter on Sunday. Born on January 19, 1923 in Lorain, Ohio Matthew’s first job after serving in the Navy was for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in January 1954. Much of his early studio work went uncredited but included many classic film's like FORBIDDEN PLANET(1956), NORTH BY NORTHWEST and BEN HUR (both 1959). In 1976 he received an Academy Special Achievement Award for LOGAN'S RUN and was nominated on CLOSE ENCOUNTEERS OF THE THIRD KIND in 1977. His outstanding work spanned nearly 40 years into the 1990s, and included such films as SOYLENT GREEN (1973), THE CHINA SYNDROME (1979), BLADE RUNNER (1982), GHOSTBUSTERS (1984) and DANCES WITH WOLVES... read more

2010

From HollywoodNews.com Among his recent credits are Charlie St. Cloud, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Uninvited, Vantage Point and the mini-series “Impact.” Hodgson had just begun work on Starz’ “Camelot,” the upcoming series focusing on the King Arthur legend, when he died.
Hodgson was nominated for a Gemini Award – Canada’s highest honors for work in TV – in 2009 for his effects efforts on “Impact,” and in 2004 for “The Collector.” His effects work on“Impact” earned him a Leo Award – celebrating film and TV productions from British Columbia – and “The Collector” netted him a Leo Award nomination.
Born Oct. 6, 1959 in Bellshill, Scotland, Hodgson was based in Vancouver. He is survived by his... read more